Chigirie Surprise

Sorry for the delay in posting. Blogspot has been giving me trouble, especially the imaging section. I must say: The kindness of Mrs. Suginome knows no limits. On Tuesday, she gave my mom the ultimate - and very unique - surprise by planning a meeting between my mom and Hokkaido's resident Chigirie master, Ohaga-sensei [pictured]. (Note: Chigirie is a relatively new art centered around using high quality paper to make images - either realistically or impressionisticly. Scissors are never used; the paper is always torn and layered then to create effects unique to chigirie.) The artist herself was quite a character, finding ways to integrate chigirie into every corner of her house. Chigirie takes such a huge amount of energy and expensive washi paper that it is often impossible to recuperate the full cost of large scale works (often drifting into the tens of thousands of dollars). Ohaga-sensei has a day job as a professor of Shodo, or calligraphy, at a university. Her home is like a museum containing very large and detailed works going back decades that have never been sold but should be in exhibitions. As an art history student myself, seeing her half finished works and bulk washi paper was very interesting. As Ohaga-sensei bubbled away in Japanese - touching on every element of chigirie in one sitting - I think my mom became a bit overwhelmed. Still, it was a very memorable experience and an honor to be invited to her home. Yesterday, after putting in some hard hours of shopping, we were off to the Ishiya Chocolate Factory, which Mrs. Suginome has several degrees of connection to. The factory itself is more like a museum, and the grounds and building are specially built and well kept. The company itself seems - confoundingly - built on the success of only one cookie called "Shiroi Koibito", or white lovers. For lunch yesterday we had curry soup across from Odori Park. Curry soup is a meal which has recently become very popular in Sapporo and Japan. It was very tasty. I introduced my mom to Shabu Shabu yesterday too. Mrs. Suginome graciously invited us to her home for dinner. Today the weather is great. We are going to tour several parks and there is not a cloud in the sky. I couldn't ask for better weather, especially if the slight breeze keeps up. Tonight we are on our own for dinner and we haven't decided what we would like to eat. We eat so much it's hard to think about food. All part of my plan to eat our way through Japan.